Walker Bay Experiences

[Evergreen]

Hello:
I am not an engineer, however, I just learned a little bit about dinghy stability when I took my Trinka 8 dinghy back to the factory (Johannsen Boat Works in Vero Beach, FL) to have some maintenance done after greater than 15 years of reliable use.
I spent a significant amount of time as the factory asking about other dinghy designs such as pram style dinghys which I thought would be great when approaching crowded dinghy docks, in addition to being more stable, since they have a flatter bottom.
Mark was kind enough to explain that any boat with a relatively flat bottom and fairly straight sides will actually be more unstable than a more rounded bottom such as the Trinka has. He went on to explain that with a flat bottom initially it seems stable, however, once a certain point is reached it will just suddenly flip. Mark Johannsen obviously had more knowledge of the physics behind these issues but convinced me in lay terms that a flat bottom boat was not the answer to stability.
Just some food for thought - best wishes,

[seajunkie]

Last year when I started at a mooring I went through a few dinghy's. After an RIB I bought the Walker Bay 8. Used it was about $300 I sold it for about that.

The Walker Bay was very easy to handle. I could carry it around, and the wheel on the keel made it very easy to move the boat and "wheel" it to the beach. I was fine in it alone. It felt stable enough to row and it worked well with my Suzuki 2HP 2 stroke. I usually rowed. It didn't track that well under oar compared to the RIB and to the Water Tender 9.4 that I picked up subsequently.

I bought the Water Tender after the Walker Bay because the Walker Bay felt unstable with my 5 yr old daughter along. The Water Tender was a heavier boat. It tracks better and was much more stable. On the other hand, it was tough to move around. The extra 1.4 feet made a difference. I was surprised that the Water Tender was more then $100 less expensive then the Walker Bay new. If I didn't need to haul the dinghy around, I would go with a Water Tender or a used Livingston. They are stable, track well.

I don't need a dinghy right now with the day sailing I'm doing from a slip. If I ever need to anchor or tie up to a mooring I think I'll swim. I hate dinghies. They are an exercise in compromise.

Good Old Boat had an article about the Walker Bay and the Water Tender last year. It was informative.

[gates_cliff]

While persuing this topic elsewhere, ran across reference to Dinghy Dogs, essentially the same thing as the collar for the Walker Bay, but about 1/2 the price. Anyone have any experience with either?

[David L]

I've had an 8' Walker Bay with Hyperlon (expensive) inflatable tube for three years, used as a tender on a CD36, stowed upside down on fore deck when underway. (Yes, it fits with tube attached and inflated.)

All 180# of me can stand on one side tube midships and it easily holds me up.

Biggest gripe is its low carrying capacity. With the tube the max load is 411# including motor. I use the 2hp Honda that weighs in at 30#. The transom label says it's a 3-person dinghy - true if they weigh only 90# a piece. I've carried three normal sized adults for a short distance but water poured in through the centerboard trunk, which is not sealed by the center seat.

Second gripe is that the Hyperlon tube about doubles the weight of the Dinghy.

Third gripe is that the four canvas grab handles on the tube have rotted, presumably form the UV in sunlight. I expected better from this $900 tube.

In spite of my gripes it is a good all-round dinghy and I've been very pleased with it. The sail kit is a load of fun.

David

[Joe Myerson]

Somewhere, probably "Good Old Boat," I read about using those foam "pool noodles" as gunwale flotation on a Walker Bay or similar dinghy. If books and magazines weren't piled all over the place, I might be able to find it.

--Joe

[jmdild]

I have one and agree they are very tender. I am in the process of adding foam-swimming noodles to it to gain some stability. Not as trim as the ones from the factory but a lot cheaper.

[Troy Scott]

Have you guys checked out the Portland Pudgy dinghy?

http://www.portlandpudgy.com

[Mitch F]

OK, I've been biting my tounge for as long as I could on this thread but the Pudgy comment pushed me over the edge. Cape Dorys are beautiful boats - don't they deserve classic tenders?

A Walker Bay, once you've bought all the upgrades necessary to make it safe and seaworthy, could be more expensive than a used Dyer, Fatty Knees, or similar dinghy. These boats will row better, tow better, look better, carry more and be more stable. They weigh about the same and will generally give great satisfaction. When a fiberglass dinghy gets damaged they can be repaired and repainted. When a rotomolded plastic boat is damaged it goes to the dump. Our dinghy is made of oak, fiberglass and bronze. It is 56 years old and still going strong despite a few repair jobs over the years. It was designed with seaworthiness in mind, not efficient container shipping. There is no need for wacky noodles or other circus sideshow measures to make it safe.

I understand the utility of some of these dinghies and understand that these are personal choices, but I see the mothership and tender as a package. Sometimes it just strikes me as incongruous - just as you don't often see supermodels hanging out with ugly dudes.

Sorry for the rant, I just had to get that off my chest. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread. . .

[Troy Scott]

I do like classic boats. I would like for my dinghy to look good with my boat. But...., the big boat requires a lot of maintenance. Maybe it would be OK to have a utilitarian plastic dinghy for fun and work. I want something I can use without worrying about it. If I spill some varnish in a plastic dinghy I can just wipe it up and forget it. But I don't think I want one of those orange ones! White will be fine, thanks.

[Steve Laume]

Mitch, I am right there with you buddy, except for the super model comment. Didn't you ever see that, how to spot a rich guy, poster? It shows a rather large, homely, looking guy with a beautiful bikini clad woman on each arm walking down the beach.

Raven has Feather as a tender. Feather is a Cape Dory Ten with boot stripe, white line and bottom paint to match the mother ship. They make a fine pair. Feather even has bright finished wood which Raven does not yet posses.

That said I am looking into an inflatable for off shore trips as Feather has caused all sorts of havoc. Much like a super model, she can be rather hard to deal with at times when you are not paying too much attention to her. Not that I have any personal experience with models.

When rowing her I am loving every minuet of it. For a boat named feather, she is any thing but when it comes time to drag her up on the beach!

As a value it would be hard to compare a plastic or inflatable to a good hard dinghy. I paid just south of $1000.00 for her when she needed a good reconditioning. In her current condition she is easily worth more than that and she is a very early model which makes her over 45 years old. I doubt seriously that any of today's plastic boats will be in service 50 years from now. I expect her to out last me unless she does something fatally stupid while I am not watching her.

Scott, the nice thing about tender maintenance is that you can take her home, roll her over and in fact take most of the bright work off and sit on a bench.

In a world full of hideously ugly inflatables I think I have gotten more comments about the beauty of my dinghy than Raven has received, Steve.

[seadog6532]

Arianna and crew are back after a wonderful time sailing the gulf coast from Dog River on Mobile Bay to Bayou Grande at Pensacola Naval base and back. We pulled our Walker bay 8 the whole trip. You could not ask for a better dingy to tow but we didn't use it much on the trip. On the way home it started to fill with water while in Mobile bay with 20-25Kt winds and it was too rough to try to stop and bail it out so we just kept on sailing and hoped for the best. I expected it to flip, the line to part, or the tow fitting to rip loose, but it just kept pulling along. we made the decision to let it go if we lost it because it was just too rough to try to recover it at night in those conditions.

I know the drain plug has a one way valve in it and I should have pulled the plug before I left Pensacola but I forgot and by the time I remembered it was too late. I also would have put it on deck if I would have known how bad it was going to get. Hind sight is always 20/20.

Mark and Anna of Arianna CD30k #112

[Joe Myerson]

Mark and Anna:

Gee, my Walker Bay 8 doesn't have a drain plug.

--Joe

[SurryMark]

I fixed up an old 8'6" Puffin, wih oak trim. It's pretty enough, and rows and tows well enough. I'm told that the builders bought a Plasic Pete mold, and I do recall seeing boats that looked like it in Pete's yard. Pete Lavoix was an old time boatbuilder in Blue Hill, Maine who could lay up a 17' canoe before breakfast. He was killed by a car in front of his house in the early eighties. Pete's best dinghy was essentially a lengthened (to 9') Dyer Dink. He was a little rough and ready with the finish, to keep the cost down (and profit up, I guess). The boat is extremely stable. If you find a used one, pay attention to the skeg, which had a tendency to wear through and leak into the aft air compartment. There are several ways to fix this. When I repaired several of Pete's old dinghies, I also cut holes and stuffed the front and back flotation chambers with styrofoam bits; again, there are several ways to close up the cutout. If you do that, it's a good idea to drill a weep hole. Pete's boats are built strong enough, but I put knees to attach the sides to the seat in most of the dinghies I have worked on, including Pete's, because bad weather can put a lot of strain on the sides, at the oarlocks.

[Steve Laume]

I expected it to flip, the line to part, or the tow fitting to rip loose, but it just kept pulling along.

Mark and Anna of Arianna CD30k #112

Mark, I had the same concerns. In fact I had an incident where the tow line did part while sailing in Buzzards Bay a couple of years ago. We managed to easily come about and rescue the little brat before she made an unmanned trio to the nearest beach.

Because of this experience I have made a couple of modifications. My dink had one of those single bolt eyes backed up with a washer.

First I glassed in a long piece of stainless flat bar as a backing plate. I then re-bolted the original eye. Instead of tying directly to the eye a go through a block that swivels and is provides much less chance of chafe.

As a back up, I added another eye. This is one of the two bolt jobbies with the bronze ring. This gets its own tow line to the opposite stern cleat on the mother ship.

If things are at all serious, both these independent towing lines are out and they tend to help the dink track a bit better. If any part of either system should fail, I still haven't lost the dink.

Filling up with water is a whole other problem. Even a prolonged rain can do you in. I am thinking a tight fitting cover would be the best overall solution. An electric bilge pump has also come to mind.

The one thing I don't really worry about is the thing flipping over. I suppose it could happen but Feather has managed to bob through some pretty nasty stuff without incident.

Offshore all bets are off, Steve.

[Joe Myerson]

Steve and Mark:

Yes, the towing bolt is a serious concern, and one which I should address if I plan to tow my Walker Bay.

When I worked with Darrell Nicholson, who is now editor of Practical Sailor, he mentioned to me that the single U-bolt that serves as a towing eye for the Walker Bay is a major concern.

It's one of a long line of minor repairs that I keep putting off. I suspect that a stronger backing plate and washers, plus locking nuts, would make it a better eye.

--Joe